Projects

North Queensland solar farm

RPS has supported a North Queensland solar farm owner to establish a unique, repeatable method for monitoring installed panel infrastructure and ensuring optimum generation performance.

Challenge

With the correct positioning of support piles and photovoltaic panels critical to solar energy performance, our North Queensland surveying specialist were engaged to survey the site and evaluate initial discrepancies between ‘as built’ infrastructure and original design specifications. This methodology would then be replicated over specific periods to track any future movement.

Solution

Establishing a site-specific survey control network, our team completed an initial survey of approximately 61,000 piles, comparing the data to the client’s original design files. This process was then replicated in order to accurately monitor any vertical displacement over a multiple survey periods.

Following the pile survey, our certified remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilots completed aerial thermal surveys. These surveys generated detailed imagery which was then used to assess the performance of the photovoltaic panels across the entire site and identify any potential issues.

To provide the client with a highly visual representation of the project in order to monitor changes on an ongoing basis a unique web-based delivery system was designed and implemented for this project. A detailed report was also provided to help the client identify the position of any panels that required fixing and establish an accurate baseline for future management.